Public Company News

Blackstone Minerals has successfully completed the spin-out of its non-core assets, birthing Codrus Minerals which was admitted to the Australian Securities Exchange this week. Codrus’ initial public offering was built on Blackstone’s suite of Australian and US gold projects, with the company receiving 35 million shares as part of the listing and leaving the Vietnam-focused nickel developer with a 46 per cent holding in the new entity.

Quantum Graphite has entered a transformational joint venture agreement with The Sunlands Company to manufacture thermal energy storage battery cells, or “TES”, utilising graphite sourced from its Uley 2 deposit on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Sunlands will contribute processing technologies and flake specifications for the final product, with the 50-50 partnership aiming to break into the burgeoning renewable power generation market.

In just three short months Strickland Metals has established a dominant land position in one of the world’s premier gold belts. Its rapid-fire consolidation of WA’s east Yandal Belt has already delivered a project resource inventory of 600,000 ounces and put it in a position to mount the first systematic drilling assault on a 100km-long stretch of the prospective Celia shear zone.

Impact Minerals is zeroing in on the source of nickel-PGE mineralisation at its Little Broken Hill Gabbro discovery in western New South Wales, with diamond drilling returning a 100m-thick intercept containing up to 5 per cent iron sulphides. Intriguingly, the intercept has a 50m-wide zone of anomalous copper mineralisation that looks similar in nature to the mineralised halo surrounding the massive Voisey’s Bay deposit in Canada.

Ardiden has sealed a joint venture agreement in relation to its hard-rock lithium projects in Canada after new partner Great Northern Lithium gave the nod to acquiring an 80 per cent interest in the assets. Great Northern, which plans to change its name to Green Technology Metals, exercised its option to buy the stake for $8.7 million over the next 18 months.

Venus Metals Corporation and joint venture partner Rox Resources have grown resources at their Youanmi gold project near Mt Magnet in Western Australia’s Murchison district by a whopping 39 per cent. Nearly 1.7 million ounces have now been defined with 800,000 ounces near surface and a further 856,000 high-grade ounces at depth. Resource drilling continues with a feasibility study on the cards.

Latitude Consolidated continues to return encouraging gold hits from an RC drilling campaign near the former Andy Well underground mine at its Murchison gold project in WA. Best of the latest reported drill intersections came from the Margaret prospect, including 3m at 2.52 g/t gold from 136m containing 1m at 7 g/t and 9m at 1.14 g/t from 150m with 2m at 3.09 g/t.

ASX-listed junior explorer Surefire Resources has been buoyed by a recently completed scoping study on its Perenjori iron ore project in WA’s south-west Murchison district that points to a potentially economically viable mining and beneficiation operation producing high-grade magnetite concentrate. The company says the study shows a “clear pathway” to meeting its 30 per cent internal rate of return hurdle for a project development.

ASX-listed St George Mining has delivered a “breakthrough” high-grade nickel sulphide drill hit below previously intercepted mineralisation at the 75 per cent-owned Mt Alexander project in Western Australia’s north-Eastern Goldfields. The 11.07m hit grading 1.58 per cent nickel and 0.71 per cent copper included a 1.28m interval going at 6.54 per cent nickel, 2.96 per cent copper and 3.88g/t PGEs from 342.12m depth.

ASX-listed base and precious metals explorer PolarX is gearing up to kick off a new round of diamond drilling at the Caribou Dome copper project, about 250km north-east of Anchorage in Alaska, USA. The company says it has locked in a drilling contractor for the program that is planned to start in August this year with an aggregate drill coverage of at least 1,500m.

Todd River Resources has expanded its footprint in WA, picking up close to 900 sq.km of ground in the Edmund Basin south of the Pilbara Craton. The company’s new Pingandy tenure covers a package of rocks similar to those hosting Rumble Resources Earaheedy lead-zinc discovery and prospective for copper, lead, zinc and silver mineralisation.

ASX-listed Venus Metals and joint venture partner Rox Resources are extending deep drilling at their Youanmi gold project near Mt Magnet in Western Australia. The pair have added 2,000m of diamond drilling to a program targeting depth extensions to high-grade gold shoots and seeking new ones. They are looking to add to the current 1.19-million-ounce resource at Youanmi as stellar gold hits continue.